The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk What'd you pay for your first truck?

Being a newer member, I scan this site daily happen to re-visited a thread I found really interesting - 'Things you found in your stovebolt when you brought it home', seeing that mine is still in a barn waiting for me, i havent been able to experience the joy of mouse poop! It did however spark the thought "wonder what everyone paid for their first truck"? As a first time owner you wonder if you paid to much or if you got a deal?


Mine is a 1950 1/2ton 3100 that hasnt left the in-laws farm since 1970 except for the occasional trip to the farm supply store. Its currently sitting in a barn as it has been for the last year and from what the Uncle tells me it needs new brakes (which is the reason he gave for parking it but never seemed to get around to fixing.) I tried to start it on the last trip and the battery was dead, when I asked the uncle about it he said 'it ran when i parked it' but did mention it possibly needed a engine rebuild seeing that he thought some gaskets needed to be replace, however it only has 38,000 miles on it.Does have some dings and dents as a normal farm truck would along with some rust in the inside of the fenders from a combination of mud and cow patties! All in all i thought the truck was in great shape and wouldnt need a lot of work to bring it back to life and give it a nice and relaxing retirement here in Florida. Oh yeah, Its Almost all original expect hubcaps that i havent seen before.

Price agreed to be paid when I pick it up = $2,000
Too much?
A deal?

What'd you pay for yours?

Thanks for all the good reads!
Paul Kris

$100 CND and $500 CND respectively.

Free from a friend but it was rough.Had to cut down the tree that had grown up through the floor.What a great time we had dragging it out of the snowbank with the backhoe.The cab alone has more patches welded in than original metal.

300 bucks

$1,000 USD

I paid 300 for a 51 and 145 for a 50. Both had been sitting for 20 years or so. If you feel you got a good deal, that is all that matters.

In 1978 I paid $75 for my 1957 3600.

In 1976 I bought my first '40 1/2-ton in rough condition for $200. The most recent '40 1/2-ton I bought last year was in similar condition and I paid $400. So I figure that in the past 30 years truck prices have doubled. :p

Maple Leaf 1926 $0 Canadian is about $0 US, but it will take many $$$ before it will be a truck again.
Don't let money stop you; you have to spend it to contribute to the economy.

Richard

Back in 78 I paid $750 US for a 66 C-10 long-wide 250-6 3-speed. Great truck. It was my daily driver for about 2 1/2 years - then I traded it for a Chevy LUV Does anyone ever see them anymore?
For AD project trucks I have paid: $250, $900 & $450.

A '57 GMC SNB 4x2 in 1976, paid a hundred bucks for it. Small window cab, Pontiac engine, 4-speed, blue with black/white seat, heater, factory f/r bumpers, sidemount spare, no chrome, ran sweet!

I paid $1250 for a 1954 Ford. V-8, heater & turn signals. Brand new back in 54. Truck prices have more than doubled since then.

I got my 53 for $1500 last year and it is not in as good a shape as what you describe.
It depends where you are. A lot of guys in the md west seem to get great trucks for less money. Here in the northeast there seems to be less supply.

I did see a 51 in similar to what you decribe up here for $2500

$1350.00 for my 50 3/4 ton. dings, dents, faded paint in spots but only 53,000 miles on it. runs great and with a little work it drives nice and straight down the road.

In 1970 i paid 350$ for my 1955 1 series panel,with all the seats. them was the days

$250 for a '54 3100 well-used farm-truck in poor but drivable condition in about 1994.

$0 for the '63 C20 (given to us by a family member for the cost of towing away the garbage stored in the bed)

Lots of money spent on parts for both, though!

You guys got a way better deal than I did, but mine had been kept in a garage for the past 20 years and is still in fairly good condition.

$5500 for my '66 C-10 stepside shortbed

At least it hasn't given me any big trouble yet and all the numbers match.

--------------------
Drew W.

This question isn't a very fair. In the sixty's and early seventy's I could buy running, titled trucks for 25 to 50 dollars, any where around my area. I did it a dozen or so times. Nowdays greed has taken over a lot of the collecting feild, and guys are paying huge sums for trucks no better than I, paid nothing for. Some of the pricing is regional, as some types of trucks dont bring anything, in a given area. There was a running 1 1/2 ton here on Ebay that never got a bid, even on there twice. I think that the prices are higher on the coasts, or nearer to the big cities. Out here in the middle of the county, I've paid as much as a 1000 and as little as a 100 for running trucks. Trucks with no titles aren't worth much here. I think the price is not the object as much as you got what you wanted, and where happy with it.

Jeff, I believe that your last sentence says it all.

First truck, that started the sickness.. FREE.
Second truck, 1950 1/2 ton......$350
Third Truck 1950 2 ton...........$600 (drove it home)
Fourth Truck ('52 Dodge 1/2 ton)....$150
Fifth Truck 67 1/2 ton.........$500
Sixth Truck '46 1/2 ton.........(traded for '67, plus $250 delivery)
Seventh truck... '40 GMC 1.5 ton ($350)

I've parted out or horse traded everything but the '52 Dodge, and the two '46 trucks.. with the exception of the '40 GMC, i've had them all running around and driving with minimal effort.

Once I get the '40 GMC stripped down to the frame, i'm thinking of making a flatbed trailer out of it.

I absolutely agree (except I fixed the spelling).

My first truck was a '39 Chevy and I don't remember what I paid for it. I sold it for about $100 not long after I paid $70 for two '41 Chevy pickups.

This was all more than 30 years ago and I would not expect to buy them as cheaply today.

The most I paid for anything in my current collection of trucks was $4600 for the '89 K3500.

$2000 for my '55 1st Suburban.
$200 for my '55 1st Chevy pickup mostly because I wanted the grill.
$200 for a '47 because I thought it had useful parts. It didn't.
$150 for my '51 1-ton panel.
$50 for my '53 GMC 1/2-ton panel.
$1 for my '54 3100.
$1 for my '72 C-10.

The others were all free if you're only interested in what the seller got. As for my investment I spent a couple hundred in gas to collect the 1-ton panel and some of the others have expensive stories to go with them too.

When I was 16 I bought my 58 Apache for $1100. It was a longbed and rusty but it had a 350 and sounded abnoxious. I did better on my second truck as a 16 year old, a 57 shortbox 3100 ex airforce truck donated to my auto shop class in high school. Gave $200 for it and it ran good. Should of kept that one.

i paid 800 for my 42 1/2 ton and 450 for the 42 1 1/2 ton and got the 46 pannel for free with the 1 1/2 ton truck

I bought my 51 at a used car lot for 600 bucks in 77.STill my daily driver so i think i got my moneys worth.

bought my 49 chevy 1/2 in 1994 no motor,trans someone elses abandoned project. cab needed some panels but alot better than some i've seen. fenders and bed have dings but no rust. doors have rust inside at bottoms only like most.pretty much everything else was in boxes.bought it sight unseen on the recomendation of a friend for $500.00 .thought i overpaid at the time,but feel now it was a good deal.then went back to oaklahoma a yr later and bought a pretty much complete 48 chevy 1/2 for $50.00,and a almost rust free cab for $200.00

I paid too much.

Never purchase a vehicle on emotion.

Same goes for your first house and first marriage.

i haven't spent much on my collection and my collection includes 13 trucks/SUVs and i just turned 18 almost 4 months ago it all started with my first vehicle which i got 6 months before i turned 16 it was a 1978 Chevrolet K10 Suburban for $800 bucks and it was well worth it in my mind it it has a 350 V-8 4 barrel, SM465 4-speed, NP205 T-case, Dana 44 front, GM Corp. 12 bolt rear, 4 in suspension lift, and 32x11.50x15 tires not to bad of an off road rig but the tires are street tread so don't fair just the greatest in mud and you know them old Chevy leaf springs absoulutely no flex

1978 Chevy Suburban $800
all the fun memories with it priceless

Nate
(i still have the truck but taking the body off and replaceing it with a '64 Chevy C10 body)

$350 for the '70 chevy in '84.
$50 for the '66 in '03.

well my 50 hot rod was 5500 needs to be put together but the parts truck the guy gave me will be done first for practice then i got a 49 not running for 600. then i got a nice old 52 driver for 1500. happy with them all

I got my first truck back in 1975, it was a 1947 Chevy 1/2 ton pickup, it didn't run, needed to be fixed up first, I was 15 at the time. My dad gave it to me for some thing to keep me out of trouble fixing it up. We moved, the truck got placed at a storage yard tell we could pick it up, it got stole out of that yard. To make up for it my dad told me I could have any other car he had there, so I was eye balling a 68 Caddy with a smached in front end, he talked me into the 57 Cadillac Fleetwood instead.....oh sorry I'm rambling on again.

As a kid that grew up on "that" side of town and from a family of 8 with my dad earning $22 a month driving a roadgrader for the county, I got PAID for hauling off my first couple trucks. Two years ago I paid $1500 for a super clean 71 Custom 10 body, no engine or trans. I'm just glad times are such that one can do that now. The good old days weren't that good.

1984- 1941 Chevy AK for $100....spent a pile on it and never got to drive it...

2003...1946 Chevy DP...paid...well...a lot..I have spent very little on it compared to my 41 and think the 46 was worth every high priced penny for a MN truck.

Don't worry about the price...just enjoy it.

My real first truck cost me $75.00 in '72. It was a 1958 Simca pick up. It was a work truck though,so I'm not counting it.
The next truck was a couple of summers after that;I paid $50.00 for a '53 GMC half ton back in 1974.Ran,but burned LOTS of oil.It used to foul the #3 plug about 4 or 5 times a week. Belonged to a retired trucker,who had systematically rebuilt the brakes,starter,generator,interior,carburetor,distributor,front end,and had just put 4 new 7.50-16 bias ply hwy treads on it before he biffed a power pole and crinkled the left front fender and broke the headlight. He parked it and 5 years later I bought it.All it needed was a set of shocks and the engine gone through. I never did either of those,just fixed the fender,replaced the doors with a pair that had glass and good latches and regulators and drove it. Finally sold it to a friend for $150.00 and he overhauled the engine in auto shop class. I sure miss it!
Speed

I got mine for free. However the 3000km trip cost me about AUS$600 with car trailer, fuel and expenses. It actually wasn't what i was going to get(ford Zepher Mark II). But i saw the truck, and loved it. The fun is now restoring/roding it! I can't wait to go crusing again.

Paid $521 on ebay for my first stovebolt, a 66 1/2 ton w/dents & dings and rotted wood in the bed. It would start and was almost drivable. Been having LOTS of fun tinkering with it & driving it a little now. Spent about the same on two of my previous daily drivers (85 Isuzu and 90 Honda). One payment vehicles are GREAT!

850 and it didn't evan run,,,i just wanted it,
and 1500,,,come to think of it she didn't run either...
but as soon as i got them home and loved them back to life,they ran great..now i am making one out of two...

i paid 1200.00 in 1983 for mine 54/3100 and had to have the engine overhauled because it would fog the whole neighborhood. i still think it was a good buy it came from southern indiana and had little rust. the first one i tried to buy back in 1978 was 75.00 but diamondplate was welded in to the bed and you could see thru the bottom of the doors it was a 55.1. ran good but to much work for me and the wife would not have in the driveway. ron

For my first truck, I paid $1200. It was an Isuzu mini-truck.

For my first (and only, to this point) 'bolt, I paid nothing. It was a gift.

Slow..Rider, I think you got your money's worth! Not to hijack this thread but I wonder who has had their truck (the same truck) the longest?

$70 for a 1948 Chevrolet 1/2 ton Panel Truck in 1969.
$200 for a 1954 Chevrolet 1/2 ton Suburban Carryall in 1970. I still own it and drive it. It had a 10-year "almost factory fresh" makeover that ended in 2004.

Keep on truckin\' Yeah!! . . . hup, hup!